The present invention relates to graphical user interfaces, and more particularly to a method for increasing data entry speed in a graphical user interface of an electronic document management system.
Electronic document management systems (EDMS) are used by many businesses for electronic storage and retrieval of papers and forms. For example, insurance companies are required to maintain client records for up to seven years, resulting in a substantial amount of paper to store. To reduce the amount of paper, companies use the EDMS to attempt to create a xe2x80x9cpaperless office.xe2x80x9d Documents are scanned into the system as images, and then manual data entry or optical character recognition software is used to index documents according to index classes.
An index class indicates what information on each document needs to be entered into the system for future retrieval. Users enter the information from each document into the EDMS through a graphical-user-interface (GUI) data entry form. Many index classes defined by an EDMS require a timestamp indicating when a data entry person began processing a document. The GUI form, therefore, typically includes a timestamp text field in which the user manually types-in the current time and/or date in the format. required by the EDMS.
Data entry personnel are typically paid based on how many documents per day the processes. The EDMS GUI, however, is designed for accuracy, not speed of entry. As with most GUI""s, the user is required to use a mouse to click on a field and then type in text using the keyboard, click with the mouse again, and so on. Such GUI interaction is a slow and tedious process for data entry, costing the users money. Manually entering the time and date in the timestamp field is an example of one of the time consuming tasks. If the time and date are entered in the wrong format, the system signals an error and the user must correct the mistake, which consumes even more time. What users would like is a method for inputting data that minimizes mouse and keyboard interaction.
One common solution has been to provide the GUI with a timestamp button that inserts the time/date when the user clicks the button using the mouse. However, users still do not favor this method because they are still required to interact with the mouse or press a shortcut key combination on the keyboard.
Another solution has been to add an invisible timestamp field to a form in which the current time/date is automatically entered when the user commits or saves the form. The disadvantages are that the user is not provided with feedback as to what time/date was saved, and implementing this type of field usually requires the customer to program this feature into the EDMS.
Accordingly, what is needed is a method for committing a timestamp in an entry form that minimizes user interaction, yet provides the user with control over what exactly is being entered. The present invention addresses such a need.
The present invention provides a method and system for speeding data entry into an electronic form. The method and system include providing the electronic form with a field that requires input of real-time data, and displaying the form to a user. The data is then automatically retrieved and displayed in real-time in the field. In response to a user interaction, the data is committed such that a current value of the data becomes a static entry in the field.
According to the system and method disclosed herein, the present invention speeds data entry by minimizing the amount of data the user must enter, and yet provides the user with control over what exactly is being entered.